Girl‘ racially pro filed and upset’ during exam
AN IRISH student of Asian origin was left feeling ‘humiliated’ and ‘racially profiled’ by a supervisor on the first day of her Junior Certificate exam last year.
Documents obtained by the Irish Mail on Sunday under the Freedom of Information Act outline complaints by parents, principals and teachers to the State Examinations Commission over the treatment of students during exams, and the difficulty of the exams themselves.
The above complaint was from a parent who said her daughter felt ‘judged, confused, singled out, vulnerable and humiliated’ when the supervisor could not pronounce her first name during the roll call before the exam, despite the student repeating it three times.
The MoS understands that a full investigation reviewed the alleged events and that action was taken as a result. The SEC told this newspaper that its policy is ‘not to comment on individual cases’. It said superintendents in breach of SEC rules are ‘liable to be dismissed’ and may be ‘refused future appointment’.
The documents obtained under FoI state: ‘During the roll call, the supervisor had difficulty pronouncing my daughter’s first name, which is unusual but not difficult, and called her by her surname only. When my daughter replied, the supervisor asked how to pronounce her name. This, my daughter did, in fact did three times, and unfortunately instead of making an effort the supervisor replied, “Sorry, I can’t say that.”’
The supervisor then asked if the student could speak Irish, and when she replied that she could, the supervisor replied: ‘Oh, oh very good, very good, well done.’
The official complaint from the girl’s mother followed on June 6.
‘As my daughter is an Irish citizen and proud to be an Irish speaker, she found the fact that she was judged on her Asian appearance both patronising and humiliating. Words she used to describe her feelings were: judging, singled out, personal, annoyed, confused, vulnerable, humiliating, bad, unwanted spotlight, disrespectful, racial profiling, assuming,’ she said.
The complaint was one of just three official complaints made to the SEC last year. It is understood the commission receives thousands of complaints and queries relating to exams but these are not recorded as official complaints.
A separate complaint, which, although the name is redacted, appears to be from a teacher, related to part of the Higher Level Geography exam, said to be ‘very challenging time-wise’.
Supervisor replied: ‘Sorry, I can’t say that’